How Low Will You Stoop?

I have no problem with fakes that illustrate their type or are educational in some way as long as they are not pretending to be something they are not. Robert Ready electrotypes are the illustrations from the books published when coin photos were harder than they are now. Becker and Cavino originals are collectible in their own right but the status of their fourteenth generation casts are less lofty. High on my want list is the as of Pescennius Niger I met as a photo many years ago. It started as, I believe, a Severus Alexander or some such but was nicely tooled and a believable VG. I do not believe in marking fakes by anyone other than the maker. I really would hate to see coins I believe are fake branded just to discover later I was not so smart after all. The example here was the fake Domitian II that could have been marked before the found another and decided the first one was good after all. DNA testing can get a man off death row with his life but it does little for his lost lifetime.

 

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I don't have replicas in my collection, so there will always be an empty slot in my tray for emperors who have <20 known coins, eg Olybrius, Saturninus etc. I have reasonable hope of acquiring 98% of the Roman portraits without replicas.

However, I do allow one fantasy coin into my collection - an Edward VIII portrait in my English series of portraits.

 

Since @TIF shared an elephant I thought, why not? This isn't my worst coin or even close to it. Although I may have a photo of it around here somewhere.
Some may recognise this one. My 1st bottle top.

Serratus of Antioch VI AE Dionysos
145-142 BC 21mm, 7.84g, Antioch (Syria)
Obv: radiate bust of Antioch RGT Rev: elephant walking LFT.
(that's as far as I've gotten so far on the attribute)

 

I have about 1200 GE 2s2s coins i havent even looked at yet JA... I bet ive got one in there somewhere...especially Lyon and trier

 

Cool. Let me know if you find any of my missing mints!

 

I suppose I continuously stoop "low" but I never regret it. I have many corroded bronzes I've paid hundreds for.

Here's one that cost me about $100. She's really ugly but only the sixth known (and I own two of them). Then again, I've had offers at more than double so I guess that isn't really stooping low, right?

SICILY, the Kersini, ae unit, 7.73g. Herakles/Acheloios Halykos. MSP I, 41.

 

But Chrsmat71, that's a Sogdian two-portrait coin (scarce), a very interesting type. Probably dates from the 6th-7th century AD. The tamgha at the reverse is ascribed to the fair old city of Kanka, 50 miles south of Tashkent (Uzbekistan). On another coin of this type, the legend 'Tuun khagan' has been deciphered, the Lord Tuun.
See the standard work about coins like this by Shagalov & Kuznetsov, p. 197-198. Group 5, Type I, Version III or more likely IVa.
This is how the coin ideally could look, but EF coins of this type likely don't exist.

 

@John Anthony and @dougsmit
I think you may have my only Constans with two standards, Nicomedia (I think).
(Not an excellent example, either.)

 

I'm sure you think you are being funny, but a lot of people actually do care about Constantinian bronze coins. I would hope that your boss at CNG doesn't agree with this sentiment, especially as I just spent a bit of money in the last auction.

 

There are many, many thousands of low-grade coins out there. We need collectors like JA to find reason to collect them. I support any attempt to collect a theme that is hard to complete and needs some low-grade coins to finish it off.

If you don't accept bad condition, don't start on a set of 5th century monogram AE4's. If you can't accept very worn coins, don't start on a complete set of Byzantine copper by Sear number.

More power to those who are willing to buy low-grade coins.

 

Obviously a 5, possibly 5,I,1? All seem to be chippy and small making it hard to follow. There were qite a few of these on eBay a fe years ago but they dried up.

 

What are you to do when the best known is terrible? Do without is a popular option but not my favorite.

Every so often I show this coin with the story that I was once told mine is slightly better than the one in the Paris collection where Cohen saw it listing it as #250. All I know is mine has the G in AVG which Cohen did not see on his coin. Being in Cohen and listed in every more recent catalog from that listing makes it seem ordinary. I'd upgrade it if I could.

 

Most of my coins over the last two months have been around $40 per coin, so that's pretty low compared to what I used to buy. Mostly common Asian ancients and medievals. That's not to say all my Adrian's have been dirt cheap, I've spent over $100 on a handful.

As far As European ancients, I've only bought ones I've been able to buy at good prices (15-20% off retail price, or bargains I've found in JA's auctions, and I've shifted from XF to F and VF quality. Honestly, I discovered that I have just as much fun buying like that as when I used to buy more expensive ones. I like coins, period, so the more I can afford to get through careful shopping and by getting slightly less pristine examples, the better.

 

I'm trying to build an "as complete as possible" set of the Roman Republic in all metals. The bronze especially requires stooping low occasionally. Sometimes there's no good example of a type, or the best one is in a museum. For example, Crawford 41/6e - Only a single example was known to Crawford. The ANS has a rather nice example donated by RBW after NAC 61 but otherwise most examples are pretty ugly and one of the handful known is heavily tooled. Mine is corroded and probably the ugliest example known, but it's mine. I hope one day to be able to upgrade it, but I'm content just having an example of it at all:


Another image courtesy of FORVM:

 

oh wow, I've not familiar with these, I just saw it on ebay for a few bucks and thought it was pretty cool...just wanting a few representative chach coins for my collection.

hu...5, iv on mine maybe?

I don't remember seeing yours before doug, that's pretty neat. I knew you had the chach coin with the "lion" like one I have. there are a few other weirdo's that have these here at CT as well. I think @medoraman has several.

so @Pellinore I assume those pictures composite drawings "pieced together" from several coins?

 

Many times it is hard if not impossible to find one in a decent condition, especially when it comes to Byzantine. Sometimes just being able to locate one is a hard task.

Constans II
644 to 645 AD
Mint: Ravenna
AE Follis
Obvs: DN CONSTANTINVS PP. Bust facing, wearing crown and chalamys, and holding globus cruciger.
Revs: M between ANNO and numerals II II. Cross above, RAV in exergue.
20x26mm, 3.7g
DOC 206

I have two others from him, both unpublished.

 

here's a very rare Crispus with a Chi-Rho on the shield that I got for a few bucks




Crispus
A.D. 322- 323
16x17mm 2.5gm
IVL CRISPVS NOB CAES, laureate cuirassed bust left, spear across right shoulder, shield on left arm inscribed with a Chi-Rho.
BEATA TRAN-QVILLITAS, Globe set on altar insc. VO/TIS/XX; above three stars.
In ex. • STR•
RIC VII Trier 372

 

Ill try and keep an eye for for any I see JA. My Constans "rarity" feels a little less special now ;_;

 

Funny.?
Thats how I feel every time you post anything!

 

Quite, it's an ideal drawing made after several examples. You won't find a coin in that condition. There are a few dozen types of these Chach coins, but this double face is the most intriguing. They come onto the market in a steady trickle, found in large hoards I believe. I saw the most endearing book about archaeology in Kyrgyzstan, with rows of sturdy Babushkas scooping up buckets of rubble.